De Gaulle and the British ‘application' to join the Common Market

The attitude of General de Gaulle to the first British 'application' cannot be understood unless it is placed in its historical context. ¹ In order to appreciate the motives for his position in 1961 and 1962, we must therefore go back to 1958. Moreover, the questions arising from the British application - in other words, the issues involved in enlarging the European Community - cannot be separated from the issues involved in deepening Europe, namely from the projected political organization of Europe, from the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy, from the overall plan for the defence of Europe and, finally, from transatlantic relations. ²